Perhaps Detroit is on the road to becoming the next Bulgaria, where the government resigned Wednesday amid protests over wage and pension freezes, higher taxes and rising electricity prices in the former communist nation.

Bad as that sounds, let's just hope Detroit does not become the world's next Oscar Pistorius story, a media freak show with one bizarre revelation after another about the double-amputee Olympic track star now facing murder charges.

My dystopian daydream about Detroit's future came to me after five minutes of listening to the car radio while driving to work Wednesday.

Sixteen hours earlier, the Detroit financial review team had set the stage for an emergency financial manager or Chapter 9 bankruptcy by declaring the city incapable of fixing itself.

An emergency financial manager or bankruptcy could be a positive turning point for the city. Decisive action, after decades of denial, can yield a clean balance sheet, a balanced budget and a coherent team capable of delivering whatever core level of services the recovering city can afford.

I believe that, just as I believe drunks or crackheads can beat their addictions.

The transitions are painful, nerve-wracking -- but positive outcomes are possible. We saw that in the New York City rescue during the 1970s, in Washington, D.C., in the late 1990s, and at General Motors and Chrysler these past few years.

That said, crisis interventions do not always go well. Some stories that look promising and uplifting one moment can suddenly end very, very badly.

Which brings me back to Bulgaria and Oscar the "Blade Runner" and the five minutes of news on the car radio.

I've never been to Bulgaria, but the quick summary of its current chaos on the radio news made it sound a lot like the Detroit of Eastern Europe.

Bulgaria, a nation of 7.3 million people, is Europe's poorest, with average salaries of $6,500 a year. Millions have emigrated since the collapse of communism there in 1989, leaving large areas depopulated.

Protests have escalated in recent days over austerity measures, declining living standards and allegations of corruption.

Any of this sound familiar, Detroiters?

And then there's the global media frenzy of the moment over South African Olympian Pistorius shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp to death in their Pretoria home last week.

Was it a steroid-induced rage? Were they arguing before the shots were fired?

I heard the latest Pistorius report right after the Bulgaria news on the car radio. And I thought: Could this be the way national TV and radio are talking about Detroit in the weeks and months to come?

What if Detroiters take to the streets, or show up en masse at raucous public meetings to protest further austerity measures, amid paranoid ravings about outsiders coming in to steal the city's assets and strip local control away from the citizens?

Gov. Rick Snyder, state Treasurer Andy Dillon and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing are all highly sensitive to this question; we'd have had an emergency financial manager or more forceful cost-cutting long before now if they weren't.

History tells us the national media could jump on this, just as with Devil's Night fires and Kwame Kilpatrick text messages in the past. Another kooky story from Detroit! Film at 11!

Here's hoping that Snyder acts quickly and dispassionately, and that Bing and Detroit City Council members and every other would-be Detroit leader avoids histrionics and helps expedite the inevitable restructuring.

The New York, Washington, GM and Chrysler outcomes would be far preferable than having Detroit be the next Bulgaria or media circus sideshow.